Meet Jeff Price, a new SportsEngine Strategic Advisor

August 05, 2014

Share:

In order to build the most powerful and valuable sports technology in the world, you need expertise from several areas. You need visionary leaders, a world-class management team, you need the most talented employees, you need strategic investment partners, and you need mentors and advisors. In the past year, we’ve brought in expertise from many of these areas, but everyday, we look for ways to get better.

Today is a day that we got better. Much better.

Jeff Price, chief commercial officer of the PGA has joined our newly formed SportsEngine Strategic Advisory Group to help guide strategic direction here at SportsEngine. Jeff is a dynamic, growth-oriented business leader with a 25-year track record in the sports industry with experience at Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, MasterCard (where he negotiated the brand’s first MLB sponsorship), the National Basketball Association, and Gatorade.

Our marketing director, Jim Dahline, recently sat down with Jeff to talk about SportsEngine and we are excited to share some of their conversation about Jeff joining the SportsEngine Strategic Advisory Group.

SportsEngine (SN): “Hi Jeff, What do you find so exciting about amateur sports”

Jeff Price (JP): “As a parent and business person, there are three components: 1) I grew up as an athlete playing football and basketball. Now, I’m an avid golfer. Sports have always been a part of life for me. 2) Life Lessons (by young athletes) learned through sport are incredibly important. 3) This is the last white space of leveraging technology to improve experiences. We can make the lives of coaches, officials, families and athletes much better. SportsEngine products are "state of the art” and moving into the 21st century. These are so fundamentally important from a business and life standpoint"

SN: “How did you get introduced to SportsEngine”

JP: “I was doing diligence on companies in the youth sports space. Every turn I made people would recommend SportsEngine. What SportsEngine is doing with data and registration, up through new opportunities with the power of knowing who, when, why, and where things are going to happen, is so exciting. There is so much opportunity to create great business opportunities. I kept seeing and hearing about SportsEngine from people. I flew to Minneapolis and after hearing the vision and meeting with the teams, I truly believe they are best in class in the marketplace. I’m excited to provide insight & network contacts to continue (SportsEngine’s) meteoric trajectory.”

SN: “What do you believe are the big issues facing youth sports organizations these days?”

JP: “We’re essentially, one step away from paper and pencil in many youth sports environments. One of the things I’m impressed with is mobile. Everything is moving to mobile first. SportsEngine has architected incredibly robust mobile solutions. With connectivity and issues of “where are we going?”, you can get it right from the app. This is so valuable for a league manager, coach, athlete or family.

Long term, and from a business perspective, creating opportunity to build very robust business and revenue streams that are under leveraged in the “one generation from paper and pencil”. We can create a far better experience from smart architecture. There are so many services and potential that can be unlocked while driving real value to millions of athletes and families who need it. The more scale that the business can create, the easier it is to open other revenue streams."

SN: “Why do you want to be a part of what we are doing here at SportsEngine”

JP: “SportsEngine is connecting, at every point, the best back end and amazing products with a deeply integrated mobile strategy. That is the winning combination. At the end of the day, this is what I was envisioning and the group I want to align with.”

SN: “What are you hoping to accomplish by being an advisor to SportsEngine”

JP: “Simple. I hope my network and my experience in big media and in the sports industry can open doors at the right time and provide additional fuel to this rocket fuel business. I want to help advance this mission. I’m not here to change the company, or redirect, I’m here to provide greater access and relationships.”

SN: “Any final thoughts?”

JP: “I am thrilled to be a part of the greatness that is SportsEngine.”